Sandeshkhali: SC stays LS notices to West Bengal CS, DGP on complaint of BJP MP

The Supreme Court has stayed the notices issued by the privileges committee of the Lok Sabha Secretariat to the West Bengal chief secretary DGP and others over a complaint of misconduct filed against them by BJP MP Sukanta MajumdarChief Secretary Bhagwati Prasad Gopalika Director General of Police DGP Rajeev Kumar and others including the DM and the SP of North 24 Parganas district were summoned at 1030 am today on Monday before the privileges committee of the Lok Sabha newswire PTI reportedMajumdar was hospitalised last week after BJP workers clashed with police personnel after being stopped from going to violencehit Sandeshkhali in West BengalA bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra took note of the submissions of senior advocates Kapil Sibal and Abhishek Singhvi appearing for the state officials and stayed the notices issued to the state officials and fixed the plea for hearing after four weeksThe CJIs bench took the pleas of West Bengal officials as the first matter on urgent mentioning by the senior officialsParliamentary privileges are not available to an MP for political activities and can be invoked only when a lawmaker is obstructed while discharging duties as an MP while attending the House Sibal saidHe said the prohibitory orders under section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure were imposed in the Sandeshkhali area and the BJP MP and his supporters violated themSibal termed the complaint of police atrocities by the MP as false and said he can produce the videos showing that the political activists of the BJP leader attacked police officialsAlso read Maharashtra 33 persons booked after raid on bar in BhiwandiBoth the senior lawyers said the officials summoned by the Lok Sabha secretariat were not present at the place of the alleged incidentThe BJP MP had on February 15 filed the complaint and notices were issued swiftlyPrivileges are meant to protect your work as an MP Otherwise there will be a breach of privileges in every case nobody can be arrested Singhvi saidThe bench asked whether the notices were issued because the MP got injuredVideo shows that he the MP jumps on the bonnet of a police car His colleagues in the BJP pulled him He is taken to the hospital by police one of the lawyers saidSenior lawyer Devasish Bharukha representing the Lok Sabha Secretariat opposed the grant of stay by the top court saying this is the first sitting of the privileges committeeThey are not being accused of anything This is a regular process Once an MP sends a notice and the speaker thinks there is something to look into then notices are issued the counsel said adding it was a threshold stageThe bench said there shall be a stay of further proceedings initiated in pursuance of the office memorandum of the Lok Sabha Secretariat of February 15The MP and others were stopped from entering Sandeshkhali where women have been agitating over alleged atrocities committed against them by Trinamool Congress leader Shajahan Sheikh and his aidesSandeshkhali a village in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal has been witnessing protests over allegations of sexual abuse of women by a local TMC leaderSeveral women in the region have accused the local Trinamool Congress strongman Shajahan Sheikh and his supporters of landgrab and sexually assaulting them under coercionShajahan has been absconding after a mob allegedly affiliated to him attacked Enforcement Directorate officials who had gone to search his premises in connection with a corruption case With inputs from PTI